Video: 4. Previewing InDesign snippets

Adobe InDesign and Adobe Bridge have a special affinity for each other. For example, Bridge is the only program other than InDesign itself that lets you see what a snippet looks like. Now if you are not familiar with a snippet, a snippet is a saved hunk of an InDesign file, kind of like which you would put into a library except it's a free agent. It can live by itself as its own file format. For example, let me show you how that would work in this InDesign file which I have opened up. It's one of the templates that comes with InDesign that lives on your hard drive and this one is called community newspaper and I have swiped over some of the lorem ipsum text but here when I scroll down to pages two and three you can see the lorem ipsum stuff in all of its beauty.

Adobe Bridge is a great tool—and not just for photographers and their files. In Bridge CS4: 10 Things Designers Need to Know, Adobe Certified Instructor Anne-Marie Concepción reveals how Bridge can be used for web and print designers, layout artists, and production managers. She shows how Bridge integrates with other CS4 programs, demonstrates how it can be used for locating files quickly based on colors and fonts, and teaches eight other valuable functions that help enhance creativity and streamline workflow. Exercise files accompany the course.

4. Previewing InDesign snippets

Adobe InDesign and Adobe Bridge have a special affinity for each other.For example, Bridge is the only program other than InDesign itself that lets yousee what a snippet looks like. Now if you are not familiar with a snippet,a snippet is a saved hunk of an InDesign file, kind of like which you would putinto a library except it's a free agent. It can live by itself as its own file format.For example, let me show you how that would work in this InDesign file whichI have opened up. It's one of the templates that comes with InDesign that liveson your hard drive and this one is called community newspaper and I have swipedover some of the lorem ipsum text but here when I scroll down to pages two andthree you can see the lorem ipsum stuff in all of its beauty.

And if I wanted to create a snippet from here in order to reuse a hunk of alayout in another layout or to email it to a freelancer or to save it on the server, all I do is I make a selection. Like say, for example, I might selectthis picture in this textframe by Shift+clicking and then I can eitherdrag-and-drop it onto the desktop or I can export it. This time I will just choose export it.So I will go to File > Export, under Format, Choose InDesign Snippet and insidethe Newspaper folder I will just call it tall column. The snippet is saved with an idms extension.

Now let's say that I created an empty page at the bottom of this newspaper.I will just click here and add a page underneath it and I want to use thatsnippet again because it's got everything arranged, the picture and theheadline and the body copy, and I am just going to swipe over it with new information.So to get the snippet back in here, I can drag-and-drop it or I can place it.This time I will go ahead and place. If I go to File and choose Place and thennavigate to where I saved that file, which was in the Newspaper folder,you'll see it just says tall column.idms and that's what it looks like.

Now that's not very helpful, is it? I mean, this is what it would look like inthe Finder obviously, if I try to drag- and-drop it from there. This is what itwould look like in Windows Explorer. So if I have a long list of the snippets,how am I supposed to tell which one is what? I mean, if they are locked into a library, obviously the library gives you a preview of the snippet but thesnippets themselves, there is nothing that shows you preview except for our friend, Bridge.So I am going to go back to that Place dialog box and show you that in this newspaper, I have a folder called display ads, that has a bunch of display adssaved as snippets, which is a very common use for snippets because display adsthat are constructed in InDesign often are constructed of many pieces,many different kinds of text-frames and image frames and colored backgrounds andit's a pain to have to recreate those all the time.

So if you create one, you would like to save it as a snippet to use infuture editions of the newspaper or the magazine. But it's kind of hard to seethem here. So instead, I am going to go to Bridge and find that display adsfolder and you see here we can see them nice and large.I can increase the size of the them now and there is a crazy screaming women,Big Mouth Productions is the name of that ad and so on. And I can use my handytrick of pressing Command+Enter or Ctrl+Return to switch Bridge into Compact mode, so that now it becomes just a floating window on top of my InDesign window.

And remember I don't want to place a display ad at this point;actually I just want to place this tall column and I can use my little sliderhere to make sure that tall column is the one that I want here. There it is,I recognize the screaming woman and I can just drag-and-drop right from Bridge onto my layout.Now, if I want to create a snippet, remember I said you can drag-and-drop tocreate a snippet. Well, if I drag-and- drop onto my little Bridge window, I cansee the preview as I drag-and-drop it. So let me find something good todrag-and-drop here. Let's say I want to drag-and-drop this picture and captionbecause I often use a picture of this size with the caption with this offset inthis publication. I want to be able to reuse it a lot. I can just drag and dropthis right onto the Bridge window. Let me reduce the size of my thumbnails andthere is the snippet that it created.

Now it gives it an automatic name of 'snippet whatever.' This is the name that itwould give it, if you dragged-and- dropped in the Finder or Windows anyway.But I will just call this picture and caption.So it's easy to create snippets with the little Bridge window. It's easy tobring snippets in to locate the ones that you want and if you are a fan ofsnippets or your department is a fan of snippets, like many are, of being ableto share chunks of InDesign layouts with each other, then usingBridge to preview and manage those snippets is a lifesaver.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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